I've sorta caught the bread bug lately. Been making a few loaves here and there, and trying to get other people to eat them with me. They've basically been disappearing like hot bread. Because that's what they are. Even my failures have been utterly delicious so far. It was one of those slight failures that inspired this one.
When I made my second honey oat bread, I decided to add flax because I ran out of standard flour and I just sorta like flax anyway. I could have used rice or garbanzo bean flour, and I did use a bit of rice flour, but I figured I might as well use some flax. It turned out to be a pretty good decision, as the bread was SUPER soft. It was actually kind of too soft. Afterwards I wished I had a smaller pan. Sadly I don't have any bread pans anymore.
Rather than just making another honey oat bread on a flat tray and trying to make it the right size, I decided to try someone else's recipe for a bread with flax in it. I figured that maybe it would actually be a better result.
That turned out to not really be the case...but I think that's mostly my fault. I'm getting ahead of myself though.
Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup whole flax meal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
The recipe didn't call for prepping the yeast like the other ones...but it did call for instant yeast, which I wasn't using. So I did the same thing that I was used to, and started with some hot water and mixed in a bit of cooler water to come up with some warm water in which to start the yeast.
It was unfortunately at this point that I realized that it would be easier to mix the honey it to the warm water than later on. It's always kind of a pain to try to put honey in. Well...unless it's mixing it into warm water... So I mixed it into the yeast water...
Sadly I likely stirred the water a bit too much and damaged the yeast.
When I decided to add the flax in a bit earlier than anything else to let the flax goo up a bit and absorb water, the yeast had barely foamed up at all, despite it being long enough that it should have.
I measured out 1/2 cup flaxseed meal to add in.
That certainly SEEMED to wake the yeast up. It foamed up like a freshly poured brew.
After I let it sit for a while it certainly seemed to settle a bit. But it was still very foamy.
I then measured out 1/4th cup oil. I actually did about half and half olive oil and "vegetable" oil, which I believe is soybean oil I think. Whatever. I hope with the recent legalization of hemp farming, hemp oil will start coming to the market at a much better price so I can start using that.
I then put it all in the mixer!
Look at that thing spin!
It was around this time that I realized that I forgot the salt. Not a smart move. Don't be like me. Add the salt before you turn on the mixer. I managed to get it mixed in by some miracle though, and even switched to the mixing hook.
This recipe is far more solid than the previous recipes, even without adding any extra flour. I just oiled up a metal bowl and put it in. Looks a little sticky, but not bad.
I then put it in a slightly warmed oven, covered with a wet clothe. Gotta make sure it's not actually hot though. I just turn it on the lowest heat for a few minutes, and then realize I left it on too long, and leave it open for a bit, then close it with the dough inside.
Looks nice and poofy after about an hour or whatever.
I then put it on a cookie sheet with wax paper on it. In retrospect I shouldn't have made it as wide or long or flat.
I let it rise a bit more on the sheet. But it didn't really rise that much. Just poofed a little, and mainly out to the sides. I did forget to put the wet cloth over top of it though.
I then put it in the oven on 350 for whatever until it was a nice golden brown...and still flat as a pancake.
It's kinda like a biscotti. But it's still very tasty. Super soft in the middle. Very flaky.
Now I know I shouldn't have mixed the honey in like I did just because it's a bit of a pain to try to get off a measuring spoon. I also shouldn't have mixed the flax in with the yeast. While that foaming was pretty cool, capturing all that foamy would have likely been better.
The whole flat flaky bread thing isn't so bad though. It's perfectly fine for a sandwich when cut horizontally...though after toasting it's a bit too flaky and falls apart. Dunno if it does without toasting. Likely could have left it in the oven a LITTLE less time.
Cooking this a bit less time and as a round would probably be perfect for a sub dough.
Oh well. With every experience I get a bit better at this whole baking bread shit. And I already got a few recipes I like, even if I didn't do them perfectly the first time.
I'm thinking this bread would actually be very interesting as a pizza dough as well. Due to the flax it's "low carb" and slightly lower in gluten. I do wanna try it with rice and garbonzo bean flour for a gluten free bread though.